It is one thing to distort the record or facts concerning a candidate for political office; it is much, much worse to distort and even invent portions of the Word of God for such an end. A couple of different people have forwarded the following email to me within the last few weeks:
This will make you re-think: A Trivia question in Sunday School:
How long is the beast allowed to have authority in Revelations?Revelations Chapter 13 tells us it is 42 months, and you know what that is.
Almost a four-year term of a Presidency.All I can say is ‘Lord, Have mercy on us!’
According to The Book of Revelations the anti-Christ is: The anti-Christ
will be a man, in his 40′s, of MUSLIM descent, who will deceive the nations
with persuasive language, and have a MASSIVE Christ-like appeal….the
prophecy says that people will flock to him and he will promise false hope
and world peace, and when he is in power, will destroy everything..Do we recognize this description??
I STRONGLY URGE each one of you to post this as many times as you can! Each
opportunity that you have to send it to a friend or media outlet..do it! I refuse to take a chance on this unknown candidate who came out of nowhere.
This email seems designed to prey on the ignorance and fear of those who know a little bit, primarily by hearsay, rather than study, about certain limited interpretations (with elaborations and imaginative exaggerations) of that highly symbolic book of apocalyptic literature which ends with the warning: “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book” (Revelation 22:18-19).
Let me just go through the errors in this line-by-line, because it is chock full of distortions and complete fabrications, misrepresenting the Word of God for the purpose of creating fear, mistrust, and confusion: none of which, last I looked, qualified as fruit of the Spirit.
Now let’s compare the fabrications with the actual text of scripture:
42 months: This number is referenced in Revelation (not “Revelations”) Chapter 13. That’s three years and six months, so it might be technically accurate, if you don’t care about details, to say that forty-two is “almost” forty-eight. I’m only a little surprised that the letter-writer would argue that in divinely inspired prophecy, close is good enough.
a man: “I saw a beast rising out of the sea having ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion…One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was astonished and followed the beast.” (Revelation 13:1b-2a, 3) Interestingly, there is no reference to this entity being “a man” anywhere throughout this passage. (And I missed the news accounts of Obama —or, I guess, one-seventh of him — having recovered from a fatal wound.)
in his 40s: This is completely made up. Some things are taken out of context, but I can’t even find a false context for this one, in Revelation or anywhere else in the Bible.
of MUSLIM descent: Nope. Also completely made up. There are no references to Muslims in the Bible, as the religious movement known as Islam did not arise until six hundred years after this text was written.
who will deceive the nations with persuasive language, and have a MASSIVE Christ-like appeal
If by “Christ-like” is meant things like “He was given power to make war against the saints” “a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies” I’d like to see where Christ ever did anything like these.
the prophecy says that people will flock to him
No word about people flocking to him, although Rev. 13:8 says “All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.”
and he will promise false hope and world peace,
Once again, this comes from the letter-writer’s preconceptions and imagination. There is no mention in Revelation 13 about anyone promising anyone world peace, but “He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation.”
and when he is in power, will destroy everything
Good news — no he won’t! While there are terrible plagues and disasters described in the book of Revelation, they are attributed to God and his angels, as punishments poured out upon “anyone who worships the beast and his image“. This figure “is going to his destruction” according to Revelation 17:11.
Do we recognize this description??
Not if we are actually reading our Bibles.
Now, just suppose that despite my careful readings, I’m the one who is missing something, all these corrections of mine are inaccurate and the allegations of the email are true? What’s the appropriate action according to scripture?
I STRONGLY URGE each one of you …
“This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus” (Revelation 14:12; see also 13:9-10).
Yep. Not frantic action, not fearful reaction. Patient endurance.
By the way, here’s every verse in the Bible that actually mentions the antichrist (a term that does not appear in the Book of Revelation):
1 John 2:18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
1 John 2:22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.
1 John 4:3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
2 John 7 For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.
As I recall, that was the take provided by Hal Lindsay in his 1970s-era book The Late Great Planet Earth. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that more recent “prophecy experts” have since come up with revised and updated versions.
I would only note that only in the United States, and only in the last 50-75 years or so, has premillenial dispensationalism, which uses jargon like “rapture” and “the tribulation” with all of the associated technical meanings of these terms, been the prevailing view among large segments of Protestant Evangelicals.
therevr: Do you believe in the rapture. I am pentacostal and have recently heard a lot of new information about the rapture that I believe is true, but I dont want to misquote what I have heard until I can write down the evidence I have heard to back it up with.
Jake: I believe in the Second Coming, but am not a premillenial dispensationalist. Over time I have had opportunity to be closely involved with a lot of people with a lot of different opinions, and my conclusion is that any teaching which does not immediately move us to be a healing presence in the world in the present day, in the sense that “as He is, so are we in this world,” is a distraction. Christians are called to “the fellowship of His sufferings” as Paul puts it, that is, to follow the real historical Christ in taking up the cross, i.e., sharing in the sufferings of others, not to rejoice in a secret hope that others will one day suffer while we will escape. My opinion is that teachings which drive people to be motivated by fear, in particular, are not of God.
I used to fear when I was thinking of the Apocalypse – the time when nothing else could be done, everything would be lost and no mistakes would be reversed. But once I’ve realized that there is no anything worst in the world that human beings have been already experienced. When I think about the genocide in Rwanda (1994), Holocaust during World War II, Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombing, or even today’s world cruelty, I cannot imagine what those people had experienced, and I suppose that for them it was The End Of The World. What else can be worst for a mother than watching how her own children are murdered? Or is there worst feeling than helplessness in others misery and suffering? Some of us focus about the future about which even the angels in the have don’t know when it comes, simultaneously omit the real problems of this World. Trying to find the evil in others is a waste of time – instead, look for good in yourself. I believe the beast won’t come as long as the goodness and kindness will be alive in people’s hearts.
And for those who read the book of Revelation so fervently: I hope you read the other parts of Bible too, and one day you will find out that your that real purpose of your life is not to fear (or die in) Apocalypse.
MJK